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I love curries, but rarely go to/get take aways from any of my local Indian restaurants, preferring to cook dishes myself. When at UEA in the late 70s/early 80s I went out with a girl from what was then Madras and she showed me how to make proper curries (most of the guys in my corridor in the hall of residence made Vesta curries, which both appalled and amused her in equal quantity).

At about the same time Madhur Jaffrey started appearing on British TV with her Indian cookery programmes and I still have various cookbooks of hers from the 80s which I still use to this day.

I have other friends from India and Pakistan and the food they and/or their parents make is several levels above anything I've eaten from a traditional high street curry house, where many of the sauces are bought in bulk (which explains why so many taste the same!).

As for preferred dishes, as a vegetarian obviously I eat various curries made with vegetables, lentils and legumes. Can't beat a plain dhal either as a stand-alone soup or as an accompaniment to other dishes, or, adding various other vegetables and tamarind, turning it into a sambar

I got exposed to this CRAP while on a week long school camp in the 1981

If ever you needed an example of why instant meals are 2nd class shite VESTA was it

Hi,

I remember when I was spending some time in India a long time ago, there used to be restaurants at all the main railway stations - separate vegetarian and meat restaurants. I liked having a thali which was a mix of different local dishes which varied depending on which part of India you were in e.g. dhal, curd, dosas, panir, chana etc.

As for favourite Indian restaurants, I remember going to an excellent South Indian restaurant in Edinburgh, close to a theatre (cant remember the name, sorry) which had wonderful masala dosas.

When I used to spend a lot of time in London the Bombay Brasserie was a favourite.

Cheers
D

Hi
It is so long ago, I honestly cant give you any clues. It might have been the Playhouse, but not sure at all. I'm talking minimum 15-20 years ago! For all I know, it mightn't even be there any longer.

Sorry!
D

If you are in London, check out the most delicious Indian food you've ever tasted. Pricey but well worth it.

I had an Indian cookbook that I bought in a bargain bin many years ago.The recipes were a lot of work but the end results were worth it. I lent it to someone (and I know exactly who) but they deny having it. If I could remember the title I'd simply buy another one.
Anybody have any (legal) ideas on how to get it back.